"Leaftail, look!"
"What, Sunpetal?"
"The moon is covered in blood!" cats of WindClan were getting up to stare at the moon, drenched in red.
"StarClan, spare me!" Sunpetal looked over to see her apprentice, Creekpaw, staring at the moon in horror. Sunpetal padded over.
"Creekpaw, it's okay." She wrapped her tail around his shoulders. The black tom nodded, his one white paw trembling in fear. His dark blue eyes were clouded with worry. Sunpetal slowly walked away and nearly crashed into Vinewing. The deputy looked sick with worry.
"Where's Cloudstar?" Sunpetal shrugged. The deputy stared.
"Tell her it's..." he cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Sunpetal looked down, surprised.
"Vinewing?!" she shook him with a paw, but he was out cold. She felt a slow, light heartbeat within him, and raced off to the medicine den.
"Whitefrost!" The medicine cat lay on the floor, blood trickling from his mouth, staining his pure whit pelt with scarlet. His apprentice, Foxpaw, sat over him, looking horrified.
"He, he-" Foxpaw let out a horrified screech when he pressed his ear to Whitefrost's chest. "He's dead!" Sunpetal felt hollow with grief and shock. "Foxpaw, what's going on?" Foxpaw shrugged.
"We have to find Cloudstar!" Her den was a few fox lengths away. Cats were screaming in horror, staring at Vinewing's body, then over to Thistlepaw as he dropped down, his eyes rolling back. Vinewing was still slightly alive; Sunpetal could see a slight movement from his chest. She raced to the den, where Cloudstar cowered in the back in horror.
"I knew it would come some day..." the look on her face made Sunpetal even more afraid than she was now.
"Cloudstar! What's happening?" The leader looked up, her eyes filled with grief.
"StarClan." She gripped Foxpaw's shoulders.
"They have been invaded." Foxpaw gasped. Sunpetal was horrified.
"The Dark Forest is here. They want revenge. And they're starting with..." she couldn't get the last word out from her mouth from her short, fast breathing. Her pelt was spiked up in fright and her fear scent clouded the air. Sunpetal and Foxpaw looked at each other. The leader was safe for now- she had just received her nine lived four moons ago, and hadn't lost a single life yet. But what happened, they didn't expect. A mysterious front paw came out, a little transparent, and covered in blood, and unsheathed it's claws. They were crusty with old blood and cracked, but still sharper than thorns. It swiped down at Cloudstar's neck, making a wound too deep to cure. They watched in horror as she lost all lives at once. Foxpaw slumped to the floor in sorrow.
"My mother." The ginger apprentice let out a sorrowful cry. Sunpetal felt empty. She stared at the motionless body, then at the paw as it faded away, first from the jagged claw tips to the end. The sound that made her and Foxpaw get knocked out of their grief was the sound a bloodcurling screech. They ran out to see Heatherstorm crying out as an unknown force strangled her until foam came out of her mouth and she collapsed, breathing out the last breath she would ever have. Her mate, Nettlefrost, ran up to her, but stop short as unseen wounds began to bleed out, and he slumped to the floor, too much blood lost. They watched in horror as one cat after another fell to their deaths, each one dying in a horrible, cruel way. They heard the last choked scream from Mintfeather, then the Clan was silent, the only thing left the scent of fear, blood, and death. A slight breeze ruffled their fur, and they sat in silence, staring at the camp in grief, sadness, and horror. Sunpetal let her emotions swim through her, trying to figure out what she felt right now. She felt a fire stir inside her, and she realized she felt anger. It surged through her paws, filled her thoughts, gave her energy.
"How dare those dark Forest cats!" she thundered. Foxpaw stared up at her in astonishment.
"How dare they break everything I knew, everything I wanted, everything I cared about, everything I knew?" Foxpaw joined her anger.
"They will pay." She began running across the moor, Foxpaw close behind. She pelted out of camp, and Foxpaw followed her. They ran through ShadowClan territory, where they dodged bramble thickets and large trees. They ran out off ShadowClan territory back to their own, where they then stopped under a heather bush, the anger drained from both of them, room for only grief and sadness. They sat in silence for a while, listening the the rustle of the willow branches and hopping of late night rabbits. They sat in silence until pale morning sunlight was sliding across the moor, morning dew dripping occasionally onto Sunpetal. Foxpaw sat beside her silently, his face expressionless, his body tense. She turned back to the moor and saw a hare skipping happily across the moor. The blood moon was gone. She was about to set off back to camp, to go clean the bodies, when she heard a snarl behind her.
"You think you could get away that easily?" She turned to see a cat bathed in blood, his eyes red and his expression challenging. His nostrils were flaring and his muscles bulged from beneath his short fur. Foxpaw turned, and his expression turned to visible shock.
"Whitefrost?" The former medicine cat had been unrecognizable due to the blood covering his pelt. But Foxpaw had known. Behind him, many cats appeared, who Sunpetal recognized as her former Clanmates. Sunpetal let her claws slide out. The cats started to advance in on the two. Foxpaw looked sick with worry, his fear scent bathing her tongue. The cats jumped up onto the two, and everything became red.
"Sunpetal." The voice was frail and weak. She recognized Foxpaw.
"Blood is an easy thing to lose. But it is nearly impossible to get back." She recognized the ginger tom's face in the dim light. Where was she?
"Life is ruined, and dying won't be any help to us either." He choked on the last word. Foam was at his mouth, and she realized a huge, deep scar was embedded in his flank. The blood spewed out, forming a pool of blood around them. When the warm, sticky liquid reached Sunpetal's paws, she jumped back, but it just kept coming closer, so she got as close to Foxpaw as she could.
"Both are horrible. But I know that I have no choice of which one to take. You do." He let out his last breath, his eyes rolled back, and his head slumped to the floor, his body soaked in blood. Sunpetal let out a cry. Everything had been lost. What could she do? Go to another Clan? They would die as well, just like Cloudstar had said. Should she kill herself? She couldn't be with her Clanmates, for they became evil form the bloodbath. Should she become a rogue? Possibly she could start a new life. But nothing about a rogue's life suited her. She hated being alone, she hated traveling, she missed her friends. However, what else could she do? Being a rogue was the only option. She might possibly find a mate, or another group of cats. But first she had to find out where she was. The place she was was dim, but she could see light up ahead. She bounded towards it, feeling blood soak her paws and her tail tip, and stepped out into the open. They had been inside a rabbit burrow- now she was out on the open moor, where she had been before. She ran. She ran far, past the Clans, past the Twolegs, past the massive Thunderpaths that crowded empty land, past more Twolegplace, past mountains, past moors, pasts rivers, past Twolegs, for moons, only sometimes stopping to hunt, and never resting. After many moons, she forgot everyone, everything, she ever knew before. She kept running until she reached an alleyway with the scent of cats. Unafraid, she stalked in. She scented mice and stagnant water, and also the scent of milk.
"Axel, who's that?"
"Huh?"
"Duh, that she-cat over there! Look, her paws are all crusty!"
"Oh, and her tail tip!" Five cats stepped out, two pale brown, one golden, and one pale gray, and one ginger. Sunpetal sat down. The golden cat, who was a tom, walked up to her.
"What's your name?" he asked. Sunpetal thought for a moment.
"I forget." He looked confused.
"Okay... Well, I'm Axel." The pale brown she-cat and tom stepped up.
"I'm Leaf," said the she-cat, "And this is Oatmeal." The two stepped back, the pale gray she-cat taking their place.
"I'm Rosy." She stepped back, and the ginger tom lumbered forward.
"I'm Russel." The cats looked well groomed, but not well groomed enough to be house cats.
"You know what? I think I'll call you... Sunny." The other cats nodded in agreement. Sunpetal sat down.
"Okay." The pale gray she-cat walked up to her, holding a mouse.
"You look hungry. Sunpetal shrugged. "I could eat." And she did. She ate the mouse, licked her lips, and lay down. She fell asleep to their stories, and the next morning, the day was happy, grooming herself, hunting, and talking. It was like this for a while, and she started to become happy. But the curse of the blood moon was still upon her, no matter how far she roamed, and no matter how much she forgot, it would never leave her. One night, when the moon was full, she went to bed early, for the last day had been full of running and hunting and little relaxing. She fell asleep before the moon had even risen, and so had all the other cats. What she did not see what that the moon was bathed in scarlet. The Blood Moon was back. She awoke, her throat feeling as if it was on fire. Axel, Leaf, Oatmeal, Rosy, and Russel, sat limp on the floor, their eyes rolled back and foam at the mouths. She was horrified, and was even more terrified when she saw a long, thin trail of blood spewing from her neck. She felt herself grow weaker as a pool of blood surrounded her. A paw with jagged claws faded, fresh blood on it's claws. She screamed out in pain, immediately remembering her past. Sunpetal. Blood is an easy thing to lose. It is nearly impossible to get back. Life is ruined; Death will be no use to us either. Both are horrible. I have no choice of which one to take. You do. She felt her eyes cloud with grief. Not anymore, she thought. She felt the last bit of blood trickle out of her, and she took in her last breath, savored her last heartbeat, and let out her last breath, letting go of any bit of life she had left, and felt herself fall into darkness.
"Sunpetal." She was on the old moor. Horrible thoughts came to her, and she looked up to see a black and white cat in front of her.
"Sunpetal. You have faced hard times. The curse has been broken. However, you still must deal with the horrible wrath of the Dark Forest. Blood spattered around her, and the black and white cat led her to a meadow, where many cats with stars in their paws were lined up, staring up at a black cat, his claws unsheathed, jagged, crusty with old blood, fresh with new blood. His ear was ripped, his teeth were sharp, his eyes were black pits. She saw Foxpaw among the ranks, sitting next to a grief-ridden cat she recognized as Whitefrost.
"Tallstar! You have brought her." The tom nodded, and the bloody cat rumbled over to her. She saw half his tail was ripped off.
"I am Bloodclaw." He sat down. "Ruler of StarClan and the Dark Forest. You came just in time. We're about to bring the curse out of the Clans. We finished with ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan, and WindClan. We need to overthrow rogues, kittypets, the Tribes!" His voice was loud, filled with determination.
"We will get the humans! We will get every living thing! We will destroy everything that exists!" He got up.
"Come! Let us create a bloodbath!"